7"New York Tourist Dies after Fall on Skellig Michael." The Dingle News. (via Radio Kerry) 21 Sept. 2009. Web. 27 Aug. 2013. <http://www.dinglenews.com/news.asp?id=2841>.
57-year-old Christine Danielson Spooner of Rochester, New York fell on September 20; in May, 77 year old Joseph Gaughan from Pennsylvania was the fatality. Another tourist, Carola Korte, was killed in 1995.
In 1851 John Windele wrote of his conversation with the lighthouse keeper: "His life whilst here has not been without unpleasant events, having lost a son by· being 'clifted,' that is, falling down a cliff. This fatal spot he showed us. It is in the blue cove. The narrow roadway winds round it towards the upper light house, and having the security of a stout parapet wall we were able to inspect a cliff-guarded bay bristling with rocks beneath, over which the waves chafed as they came in from countless miles of ocean. A foot of the unfortunate young man was all that was ever found." (Harbison, Peter. "John Windele's Visit to Skellig Michael in 1851." Journal of the Kerry Archaeological and Historical Society 9 (1976): 144.)
In the 1820s an assistant lighthouse keeper was killed by falling over the cliff while cutting grass for his cow. (Lavelle, Des. Skellig: Island Outpost of Europe. Montreal: McGill-Queen's UP, 1976. 58-9.)
Another lighthouse keeper disappeared in 1957. (Byrne Ó Cléirigh Ltd. Safety Review: Skellig Michael World Heritage Site; Final Report. Dublin: National Monuments Division, Office of Public Works Ireland, 2010.)